Letter: FCAT replacement test choice criticized

5:13 PM,
Mar. 19, 2014

Written by

Dan Bennett
Brevard Federation of Teachers

It's no surprise that Florida Secretary of Education Pam Stewart chose the American Institute of Research (AIR) to produce the next high-stakes test for Florida's children.

This research company has long partnered with Jeb Bush's Education Foundation in the former governor's misguided quest to reform our schools. Just as FCAT was a test printed by a company with financial ties to the Bush family, the new test has Bush fingerprints all over it. AIR produces raw teacher value-added model (VAM) scores, with little explanation to educators. These unreliable and invalid measures are part of ...